Advantages

Disadvantages

A great gift with a difference!

This is one of those items that I really didn't want - until we were given one for Christmas! It is far from an essential, but once it is up and running it really is a lovely item to have in the house. It's eye-catching and smart, and a great conversation starter! All our visitors spot it and stop to watch the photos.

My main concern when I opened our gift was that it would be tricky to set up. So was it...?

The photo frame itself is exactly that - it's about 20cm by 16cm and very slim. You have the 'photo' in the centre, with a black surround and a clear glass frame around the edges.

Firstly you need to attach the stand to the photo frame, which couldn't be easier - simply place it on, rotate and it clicks into place. Now your frame can stand up nicely on any shelf in the house. There is also a mains power adaptor which is very simple to plug into the frame at one end, and a socket at the other. No technical knowledge required!

At the side of the screen is an on/off switch, and along the top are a few other buttons. None of these buttons is visible from the front, so the frame looks very smart and simple.

There are a few options menus that operate at the touch of the various buttons and allow you to set the time and date, and choose the set-up of your photo frame. You can set it to browse through the photos at the touch of a button, view the thumbnails or watch a slideshow. We always have our set to the slideshow setting. You can also choose to shuffle the order of the photos, and change the transition effects between photos. The menus can be a bit tricky to navigate and the buttons are very small, but I very rarely use these menus - once your settings are how you like them there is little need to go back to change them.

But how do you get your photos onto the frame in the first place? Now this is the bit that worried me most as I thought things may get tricky at this stage! The pack came with a USB cable to link direct to your PC to transfer photos over quickly and easily. However, I've opted to use a memory card - we have enough cables trailing around without messing around with more! I simply slotted the card into my laptop, dragged and dropped some photos over to it, removed the card from the laptop and slotted it into the photo frame. Simples - and quite fun to choose the photos too! My memory card is 1GB and, although I am not sure just how many photos it can hold, I currently have over 100 on there and have no problems. It's really nice to change the photos now and then and this is really easy - you can just remove the card, pop it into your laptop and edit the photos on there.

Like I say, this is not an essential item by any means and we were lucky that ours was a gift - they retail at around £70, although there are of course other frames on the market and you can get ones cheaper.

If you're looking for a really unusual gift for someone special that will be much loved, I highly recommend the Phillips digital photo frame.

The frame is stylish and will suit most home environments. The length of the power cable is also good, something missing on many other models, which enables greater flexibility in positioning. The images are bright and clear, though the frame doesn't handle imperfectly fitting pictures as well as other frames (some, for example, adjust the background colour in line with the colours at the edge of the photograph).

The Bad

Given how cheap small digital memory cards are, you can buy 512mb for under £2 in the shops, so presumably 1/4 of this is the cost price, it is disappointing that no card is bundled with the frame. Nobody realistically has one memory card that they share between camera and frame, so, like me, most will inevitably have to set forth and purchase an additional card.

Conclusion

A good quality, stylish, and practical digital photo frame firmly placed in the middle of the price-market. Disappointing, though, that you should expect to undergo the inconvenience and expense of buying a memory card.

Comments

Advantages

Disadvantages

Want a digital photo frame and more - go for it

In the beginning of this review I need to say that before my girlfriend's brother bought it I was not a big fan of these frames. Saw them hundred times in shops, adverts and so on and can not explain why, but was not interested. Once I saw how it works, how simple it is and what it does I have completely changed my mind.

The biggest difference between ordinary and digital frame is in my opinion simplicity. It may sound weird but yes-simplicity. In normal frame you can not put lets say hundred pictures and set them to change every 10 seconds. It is not possible to see anything when light is off. Philips 7FF2FPA does it all and allows you even to save money. When you buy normal frame or frames it cost, to place something in - means to print a picture from PC or printing shop it costs. Once you have digital frame all you need to do is to copy wanted pictures on a card supported by this device and stick it into it. Select pictures to be displayed, playing/sliding option, effect and done. As simple as that. In total darkness this frame looks really cool, quality off images displayed is really brilliant. Just imagine - can see nothing in your room except of best moments of your live or most loved people you have on this frame.

Even if you get bored with displaying images you can set it to be clock. Let's be honest - how many alarm clocks or clocks can you see at night?? Most of them you need to light up before seeing time. Or they can do it but are expensive and can not display images. This small frame does it all. Has even alarm clock.In my opinion, the only minus is a power consumption as it is connected to power socket. It takes 4.9W. It is nothing special but always something. Even that factor I think it is still worth to have it. To reduce power consumption it is possible on this device to set time when frame should and shouldn't be on. This model has not built in battery. Every single time you disconnect it will lose all time and date settings. That another small issue. It would be much simpler to install inside cmos battery to keep most information's when without energy but in this model Philips did not do it.

High quality design and materials include a solid stylish stand; designer frame and detailed finishing that convey an impression of value and refined taste, adding shine to the photos displayed on Photo Frame.Now it is Time to review all specifications.

Inside the box

Everything comes in a medium size box. Inside of it you will find a frame, quite have stand, USB frame to PC cable, manual, guarantee, Compact Disc with drivers and a power adaptor. All this pieces are nicely and safely packed. That is a big plus for Philips. Manufacturer included in a package all most important information's about device and cables.

Installation

This bit is very simply and does not require any special skills or knowledge. Unwrap everything, remove protective foil from the screen, attach at the back stand. Push it in and choose if you want frame to stand vertically or horizontally by twisting it. Connect frame to power socket and insert memory card with pictures into it. Job done. Whole frame has been designed to be stable and that's how it is in reality. Everything thanks heavy stand.

Philips 7FF2FPA frame has an image aspect ratio of 3:2. It is good because it is used in most of still picture cameras. There should not be problems with displaying your images. Image aspect ratio it is relation of the width of the image to the height. While you can change the size of the image, the ratio stays constant. There should not be problems with displaying your images.

Display size for this model is 7 inches. It is absolutely fair enough size. If you want to buy bigger buy bigger one. That size is I would say medium and sufficient to satisfy everyone eye.Display format for this frame is 7200:480 pixels. It gives good quality of viewing picture and rich details. As higher resolution is as better and more detailed picture is. For this frame it is absolutely enough as pictures it display look brilliant.Another very important point for Philips 7FF2FPA is its contrast ratio.The contrast ratio is a measure of a display system, defined as the ratio of the luminance of the brightest colour (white) to that of the darkest colour (black) that the system is capable of producing. A high contrast ratio is a desired aspect of any display. This frame has 400:1 typical value which is really good. To compare I can say that my 22" TFT monitor has 500:1. Brightness of this device is 200 cd/m2.

Viewing angles are 120º for the horizontal plane, and 110º for the vertical plane.All that specifications give together a great quality. When watching images on it, they look very bright, intensive and well detailed.

Software

Software with drivers is very easy in use, install and practical. Firmware upgrades are available online. Same with drivers if you will lose CD. Philips provides good customer service help on website. If have any troubles with your frame you should go straight there without hesitation.

Connectivity and capacity

Philips 7FF2FPA has a built in 16 Mb flash memory. This is not a lot but sufficient enough for beginning. You can easily expand it by connecting memory cards. This model complies with following memory types: Compact Flash Card type I, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO, Multimedia Card, SD Memory Card, xD-Picture Card, and SDHC Memory Card. It has two slots. Some of them you will be able to connect thanks adaptors only which are not included.

Philips does not say what the maximum supported capacity is. I can say that supported my 2 GB SD card.Frame supports all JPEG photos up to 10MB or 13 Mega pixels. That is quite impressive. That is very unlikely that you will want to display bigger pictures than that. Even if it will lose the point as that frame wont be able to show maximum of this image. That limit is absolutely fair.

Options and features

- This digital photo frame has 7 control buttons. They are all signed, easy to use and comfortable to press. What is most important - they are not hidden and tiny.- It has three available playback modes: Full screen browse , Slideshow , Thumbnail browse- photo edit options are: copy, delete and rotate- there is option to change colours of displayed images to black and white- what is really important and useful you can change slideshow settings to Random , Sequential or Transition effect- Another nice function it is changing background settings. You can adjust them to your room colour or own preferences. You can choose out of three: Black , White , Gray- Setup function are: Brightness adjustment , Language , Status , Beep on/off , Set time and date , Clock display enable/disable , Alarm , Auto on/off- System status: Firmware version , Remaining memory- Connected media status: Connected media , Remaining memory- On-Screen Display languages: Danish , Dutch , English , French , German , Italian , Russian , Simplified Chinese , Spanish , Traditional Chinese

Altogether

I saw this frame and had an opportunity to play with. It is really amazing little thing. This digital frame is a good solution for your own home or to give someone as a gift.He bought it for £30 from PC World on special offer. In other shops are available from about £70. I think it is a value for money as memories and places you keep them are extremely important and priceless.I can recommend it to anyone as it is a very nice, stylish, very good image quality digital picture frame and clock. It is a Very useful device with interesting functions and connectivity options.